Autism: Vaccine Compensation Victory

Federal officials say a Georgia girl is entitled to compensation from a federal vaccine injury fund because she developed autism-like symptoms after receiving childhood vaccines in 2000. The government has not said that childhood vaccines cause autism; rather, officials conclude that the vaccines given to the girl in 2000 aggravated a pre-existing condition -- a mitochondrial disorder -- that then manifested as a regressive neurological disease with some symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.

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My Comment:

I am surprised by this news. I am happy for the little girl, Hannah, and her family. Not that this will reverse the damage caused by vaccines, but at least the compensation will help ease the financial burden.

For years, thousands of kids have been injured by vaccines, but have been denied compensation. The federal vaccine injury fund was designed to compensate for the damage (or death) of children caused by vaccines. However, most families have found it near impossible to be compensated.

Here's the government's description of the fund:

Over the past 12 years, the VICP has succeeded in providing a less adversarial, less expensive and less time-consuming system of recovery than the traditional tort system that governs medical malpractice, personal injury and product liability cases. More than 1,500 people have been paid in excess of $1.18 billion since the inception of the program in 1988.

The VICP fund has over $2.5 billion dollars in it and each year another $90 million gets added to it. Here's another article about autism, vaccines and the vaccine injury compensation fund.

PS - It makes me laugh when the government indicates that Hannah developed "autism-like" symptoms. Does it really matter to her or her family whether it's "autism" or "autism-like" symptoms??? (Of course it matters to the government what you call it).